At the Pleasure of the President
by SMKLegacy
Summary: Fourth in the ROSES series: Jed muses on The Rose King and other things.
1. February 14, 2002

**Disclaimers:**  _The West Wing_ and all the familiar faces belong to the creative genius of Aaron Sorkin and to his gifted team of producers and writers.  I've borrowed them for my own amusement and that of others just for fun and because these characters have gotten under my skin and there is currently no medication approved to treat Chronic West Wing Syndrome.

This is the fourth in the _Roses_ series, which includes _Afterglow_ and _The Leash_, as well.

*****

_From the personal, unpublished journal of Josiah E. Bartlet, President of the United States:_

**Thursday, February 14, 2002 – 10:08 p.m. – Washington, D.C.**

Valentine's Day is my favorite day of the year.  As an economist, I know that the activity surrounding the purchase of flowers and candy in the two weeks preceding the day provides 40% of the annual gross for the floral industry and between 15 and 25% of the annual gross for the candy industry – more for the high-end chocolatiers, of course.  Mother's Day and Christmas account for much of the rest.  More importantly, as a husband and a father of female children, I love Valentine's Day because of the traditions I have built with the women in my life.

My daughters each received a dozen white roses from me on Valentine's Day.  I like to think that they realize the symbol of purity inherent in the color of the flowers; Abbey tells me that I am an idealist.  A sweet one, to be sure, but an idealist nonetheless.  Each year, my daughters call me from wherever they happen to be to thank me, and then they indulge me in one other tradition despite the fact that this particular custom causes tears – theirs.  For each of my daughters on their very first Valentine's Day, I wrote a story, which I have read to each one individually on each Valentine's Day since.  Zoe was in town today, so I got to see the tears in her eyes, while the teary voices of her sisters had to suffice for my other daughters as they cried over the phone.  I love my daughters very, very much.

I love my wife even more – in part because she is the mother of my children but mostly because she is the most magnificent woman in the world.  And this year, for the first time since I became governor of New Hampshire so many years ago, I actually got to order her roses for myself.  Each year, it's one red rose for each year we've been married, one white rose for each daughter, and 2 dozen pink roses just because we both really like pink roses.  It was a total of nearly 5 dozen this year.

Truth be told, I _had _to order the roses myself – Mrs. Landingham had done it for many years with pleasure and great joy.  As yet, however, I don't have a permanent secretary who can even come close to filling the void…  I just didn't feel it appropriate to pass along such an intimate task to someone who isn't family in the peculiarly heartwarming way this staff has become family to one another in the best sense of the word.  So I called the approved florist and arranged for the delivery very early in the morning so that I would be the one who signed for them, as well.

Thus it is that I – alone, of all people except Donna and, one has to hope by now, the sender himself – am party to the secret identity of The Rose King.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I, Josiah E. Bartlet, President of the United States of America, know that my Deputy White House Chief of Staff, Joshua Lyman, sent his executive assistant, Donnatella Moss, 3 dozen of the most beautiful red roses I have ever seen.  I am also fully aware of the scandal that could erupt from this turn of events.  Sometimes I hate the fact that these people serve at the pleasure of the President, because it makes me the bad guy when I have to make those scandals go away.

However…

Donna makes Josh happy.  Deliriously happy, and only a man who is totally ignorant of human behavior could miss it.  Most of the time, Josh makes Donna happy.  You might not realize it from the surface behavior in recent weeks, of course, but it's true.  I do notice these things, busy though I am – and something tells me that the roses are going to bring back the magic between Mr. Lyman and Ms. Moss.

Which leads me in a roundabout way to the reason that I had to order and sign for my Valentine's Day roses this year:  I don't have an Executive Assistant yet.

Hmmm…


	2. March 4, 2002

_From the personal, unpublished journal of Josiah E. Bartlet, President of the United States:_

Monday, March 4, 2002 – 10:50 p.m. Pacific Time – On the Runway at LAX 

Abbey and I decided that we needed to get away from Washington, so we accepted an invitation to a Democratic fund-raiser tonight.  Leo growled and reused to come – he kept Toby in D.C. to slave away at the legislative agenda but let Josh, Sam, and CJ come to play.  I told Josh to bring Donna and hinted strongly to Sam that Ainsley Hayes would be welcome to come; Josh doesn't function without Donna (and I suspect that there is much more reason now than there was before Valentine's Day), while Sam and Ainsley – aside from having an openly romantic interest in each other – are working on a major policy speech I'll be giving after Easter.  They have gotten more done in a day away than in any two days in the office.

CJ – well, if I could sit down with the good Claudia Jean Cregg and the stolid Tobais Ziegler and get them to talk to me candidly, I believe that they would tell me that there is a powerful attraction that has, once in a great while, been acted upon.

Okay, I know that I have far more important issues to deal with than the romantic lives of my closest staff.  However, nothing is more important to me than these people, so I am naturally concerned about their happiness.

Which is why one of the things that Abbey and I took the time to do today is talk about each of my staff members and where he or she could best serve.  Leo, Toby, CJ, Josh and Sam are right where they should be.  I'd really like to find a more visible place for Ainsley within the administration.  That would probably surprise her, since she still thinks I am highly unimpressed with her, although nothing could be further from the truth.  And then there's Donna…

Oh, Donna, Donna, Donna, what are we going to do with you?  Josh, as I mentioned before, does not function without Donna.  I don't have the foggiest idea how he got where he did before she walked in to our campaign headquarters and set herself up as his assistant.  The very fact that she makes Josh successful at his job is why Abbey and I think that we should approach both Donna and Josh – together – about the possibility of Donna becoming my personal secretary.

I still have to talk with Leo about this before I can talk to the Lyman-Moss team.  Leo won't like it, of course, but I think I can show him the best reason to let it happen.

Josh and Donna could be as happy openly as Sam and Ainsley are.  Leo won't be able to say no to that logic, because Josh is the son he never had.  Then they'll be able to make it permanent, too, which is a very good thing, because I think one of the two – Josh or Donna – will be in my shoes someday.  Maybe both – and won't that throw the historians for a loop to have husband and wife presidents…

My wife, whose very formal birthday party is later this week, looked radiant this evening.  For one night, we were able to put her medical hearings aside and just play husband and wife, albeit President and First Lady.  I even cut the rug a bit at this Hollywood party, which I'm sure will make headlines.  With any luck, the kind that make Bruno happy.

He wouldn't like the headlines he'd see if a reporter were to appear in the staff cabin of our plane just about now.  Specifically in the one Josh and Donna are set up in.  I just peeked in to say good night; Josh didn't even try to move from the very intimate embrace he and a drowsing Donna sat in as he told me it had been a good day.

"Yeah, it has.  Goodnight, Rose King."  I watched the smile that settled on Josh's face and realized that he's going to be okay, after all he's been through, because Donna has been there all along.


	3. March 15, 2002

_From the personal, unpublished journal of Josiah E. Bartlet, President of the United States:_

Friday, March 15, 2002 – 11:28 p.m. EST – Aboard Air Force One in route to South America

My staff, it must be said, has been seriously infected by the Love Bug.  There are, at last count, four new couples since Valentine's Day – four openly acknowledged, that is, and one that is actually a pretty well-kept secret, amazingly enough.  Three of the four that are known are between lower level staff members; even if the Republicans had them on the radar screen, their positions aren't important enough politically that any potential impropriety  - like a boss/assistant relationship – don't matter.  Don't get me wrong.  These people are _very_ important to me; it's just that the Republicans don't care about them.

The Republicans do care about the fourth couple, however.  They care **_a lot_**, because while he's one of ours, she's one of theirs.  The powers that run the GOP are privately frothing at the mouth, deathly afraid that Sam Seaborn will somehow corrupt Ainsley Hayes.  Oh, how little they know or understand!  Sam and Ainsley are in love precisely _because_ of that intrinsic difference of politics.  I, for one, am delighted.  Ainsley has blossomed and isn't so afraid to voice her opinion in front of Leo or me now.  Sam has written the best speeches of his life since Valentine's Day, mostly, I think, because he's no longer such a tortured soul.

Speaking of tortured souls…

It has been killing me since Valentine's Day to see all the signs of true love in full bloom at last between Josh Lyman and Donna Moss and to know that they have to keep it hidden because the aforementioned GOP will rip them – and this entire administration – to shreds if their romance comes to light.  So I am providing them a way to have their relationship and their jobs, too.

Leo thinks I'm off my rocker for this, but I offered Donna the opportunity to serve at the pleasure of the President as Personal Secretary to the President of the United States.  I did this a little while ago, when we were on our way to a campaign stop in South Texas.  Why does Leo think this is a bad idea?

Josh.  Leo is convinced that I am easier to control than Josh is.  He may well be right – he does it on a daily basis, whereas the thankless and terrifying job of controlling Josh falls substantially on Donna's broad shoulders and he wouldn't take her job if he had to even to get Bill Gates to donate his entire personal fortune to the Democratic National Committee.  Be that as it may, for both the purely human reason of wanting to see lovers openly sharing their joy and for the politically astute reason of diffusing a potential scandal before it erupts, I have laid the offer on the table.  I can do this with a clear conscience, even though I know that if Donna accepts the offer, Leo will be going through the far more arduous task of finding a new Donna for Josh.  I, however, know that Josh is the Rose King and that the two are deeply involved, which may make it just a little easier to find an office assistant for him.

I told Donna and Josh that I need an answer on Tuesday, when they rejoin us.  I have left them in Corpus Christi, Texas, for the weekend.  They are expecting to meet with the Democratic primary winners and key state party leaders starting tomorrow at lunch; what they don't know is that I have spoken to the three key leaders and asked them to postpone the meetings until Monday.  They were fine with that; the head of the party has arranged free admission to many of the tourist attractions in the Sparkling City by the Sea for my staffers so that when they have time to take a break from their rush project, they can enjoy the city.  CJ, who I just found out also knows about their involvement because Josh was smart enough to make her his first call, will call them about 9:00 tomorrow morning with the cancellation and remind them not to do anything stupid.

There is no rush project for our poor, tortured Josh and long-suffering Donna.  Rather, I've given them almost two and a half days to be together in a romantic, sub-tropical city with nothing to do except be together.  My sincere hope is that the time away alone will help the two realize that _they_ are ultimately more important than the jobs either of them do.

Abbey agrees with me about Sam and Ainsley being good for each other.  She really believes that  Josh and Donna are soul mates – and she thinks that it won't take Donna long to become as indispensable to me as Delores Landingham ever was.

To sweeten the deal for Josh and Donna, there's a bottle of champagne for Mr. Josh Lyman and Ms. Donnatella Moss to be delivered to them tonight in their suite at the Omni Bayfront Hotel, courtesy of the President of the United States.

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match…


End file.
